real physical torment other than pushing the weights; therefore, the punishment is designed primarily as a mental torture. He condemns these sinners, whom are traditionally bullheaded and stubborn, to mutual antagonism. This punishment is brilliant because these sinners, who committed no physical harm or sin, merely a mental one, are tortured only psychologically and not physically. This idea of punishment as a counter penalty for one’s actions is discussed by one of the victims of the most gruesome and horrifying of all of the creative punishments that Dante envisions. Bertran de Born, one of the sowers of discord and scandal, was an advisor to a “fledgling king” and because he gave bad advice and “made the son and father enemies”, he is condemned to walk about with his head “carried by the hair just like a lantern.” In a discussion with Dante at the end of Canto 28, Bertran reveals to Dante the “law of counter penalty” as the guiding principle for the punishments in The Inferno. In Bertran’s case since he severed the ties between father and son, his head will be severed from his body. This punishment is especially gruesome and physically cruel, but psychologically it is quite ingenious: Since Bertran severed affectionate ties, his head must forever be severed. The similarity between punishment and sin is not only what makes these punishments so compelling and interesting, but also what allows Dante to show his creativity in his punishments. ...
